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Radiate

A radiate head or bust is depicted wearing a radiate crown. The radiate crown is an attribute of the Sun god (Sol Invictus, Helios) and is conferring that association upon the wearer. Tiberius was the first emperor to depict the radiate crown on coin portraiture, but ONLY for posthumous portraiture of the deified Augustus. Nero was the Roman first to depict it on a living person (himself). As a bust attribute on some roman coins it served as a "double value" denominational marker: dupondius = double as, antoninianus = double denarius.

Many coins of Rhodes depict the sun god Helios with a radiate crown. These images inspired the radiate crown on the Statue of Liberty.

Today we associate the crown with royalty. The ancient Greeks associated the radiate crown with divinity and in the Hellenistic period royalty was often associated with divinity. With the beautiful and raretype below Ptolemy IV honored his deceased father with the symbols of divinity. He wears the aegis of Zeus, the radiate crown of Helios, and carries the trident of Neptune.